Paula's General Research Guide: Beginning Your Research & Choosing a Topic

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a free open-access encyclopedia sponsored by the Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. the SEP was designed so that each entry is maintained and kept up to date by an expert or group of experts in the field. All entries and substantive updates are refereed by the members of a distinguishedEditorial Board before they are made public. Consequently, our dynamic reference work maintains academic standards while evolving and adapting in response to new research.

Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people – no matter who they are or where they are. They are the world’s largest grassroots human rights organization.

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is an American non-profit research and policy organization founded in 2002 . IPA conducts randomized controlled trials (RCTs), along with other types of quantitative research, to measure the impacts of development programs in sectors including microfinance, education, health, peace & recovery, governance, agriculture, social protection, and small and medium enterprises.[

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) promotes and protects Australia’s international interests to support our security and prosperity.

The World Factbook provides basic intelligence on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, environment, communications, transportation, military, terrorism, and transnational issues for 266 world entities

A free web site with datasets on international conflict zones

They offer more than 35,000 pages of content on the countries of the world. Our cultural, historical and statistical information has proven to be valuable to students, parents, teachers, and researchers alike.

The HDI was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone. The HDI can also be used to question national policy choices, asking how two countries with the same level of GNI per capita can end up with different human development outcomes. HDI provides COURNTRY PROFILES, The list of countries shows only the United Nations member states with the available HDI values.

Human Rights Watch investigates and reports on abuses happening in all corners of the world. We are roughly 450 people of 70-plus nationalities who are country experts, lawyers, journalists, and others who work to protect the most at risk, from vulnerable minorities and civilians in wartime, to refugees and children in need.

The International Development Statistics (IDS) online databases cover bilateral, multilateral aid (ODA) and private providers’ aid and other resource flows to developing countries.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 190 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is part of the United Nations System as the leading inter-governmental organization promoting since 1951 humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all, with 174 member states and a presence in over 100 countries.

NationMaster is a statistics database which offers a large directory of variables for comparison purposes.
A wide range of economic and demographic indicators are available, across 300 industry verticals (agriculture, consumer goods, ICT, pharma…)
With NationMaster you can track thousands of statistics as and when they are released. The database is composed of data from trustworthy sources such as national statistic agencies, governments, international organizations... (UNDP, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UNCTAD, WTO, World Bank, World Health Organization, OECD and many others)

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation that works to build better policies for better lives. Our goal is to shape policies that foster prosperity, equality, opportunity and well-being for all.

PRB promotes and supports evidence-based policies, practices, and decision-making to improve the health and well-being of people throughout the world. PRB analyzes and disseminates information about populations and their health and well-being so it can be used to inform decisions that improve lives around the world.

UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It seeks to build peace through international cooperation in education, sciences and culture. UNESCO's programmes contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals defined in the 2030 Agenda, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015.

The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945. Currently made up of 193 Member States, the UN and its work are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter. It is the one place on Earth where all the world’s nations can gather together, discuss common problems, and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity.

As the world’s only truly universal global organization, the United Nations has become the foremost forum to address issues that transcend national boundaries and cannot be resolved by any one country acting alone.To its initial goals of safeguarding peace, protecting human rights, establishing the framework for international justice and promoting economic and social progress, in the seven decades since its creation the United Nations has added on new challenges, such as AIDS, big data and climate change. This website offers an overview of some of these issues, and links to other resources, where you can get additional information.

The World Bank Group works in every major area of development. We provide a wide array of financial products and technical assistance, and we help countries share and apply innovative knowledge and solutions to the challenges they face.

WFP USA is the recognized leader in America’s pursuit to end global hunger, inspiring individuals, businesses and policymakers to do everything in their power to create a zero hunger world. Consistent with the mission of the U.N. World Food Programme, World Food Program USA works with U.S. policymakers, corporations, foundations and individuals to help provide financial and in-kind resources and develop policies needed to alleviate global hunger.

WHO is the United Nations agency that connects nations, partners and people to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable – so everyone, everywhere can attain the highest level of health.

The overall objective of the WTO is to help its members use trade as a means to raise living standards, create jobs and improve people’s lives. The WTO operates the global system of trade rules and helps developing countries build their trade capacity. It also provides a forum for its members to negotiate trade agreements and to resolve the trade problems they face with each other.

AllSides provides day’s top news stories from the Left, Center and Right of the political spectrum — side-by-side so you can see the full picture. They provide Media Bias Ratings for over 800 media outlets and writers, so you can easily identify different perspectives

Gallup Poll has measured and tracked the public's attitudes concerning political, social, and economic issues, including sensitive or controversial subjects.

Top stories in the U.S. and world news, politics, health, science, business, music, arts and culture. Nonprofit journalism with a mission.

The New York Times: Find breaking news, multimedia, reviews & opinion on Washington, business, sports, movies, travel, books, jobs, education, real estate, cars & more at nytimes.com.

Today's Front Pages. Through a special agreement with over 800 newspapers worldwide, the Newseum displays these front pages each day on its website.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. They do not take policy positions.

Pros and cons of controversial issues. Read pro and con arguments for and against topics such as medical marijuana, euthanasia, prostitution, and more.

TED Talks are influential videos from expert speakers on education, business, science, tech and creativity, with subtitles in 100+ languages. Ideas free to stream and download.

Learn about the UNs perspective on global issues. This website offers an overview of some of these global issues, and links to other resources where you can get additional information.

Wikipedia can sometimes be a great starting place if you know nothing about a topic. It’s great if you just need a general idea of a topic to help you figure out the discipline of an unfamiliar topic—scientific, historical, literary, etc. It can also help determine a time frame of a topic. Wikipedia can provide you with relevant language and terminology to help you brainstorm terms associated with your topic so you can begin your research.. Consider looking at the References and Bibliography section (although not all sources listed are credible).

This search engine which refers to itself as “The Global Science Gateway,” is operated by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information—a branch of the Office of Science within the U.S. Department of Energy. The site utilizes databases from over 70 countries. When users type a query, it hits databases from all over the world and will display both English and translated results from related journals and academic resources.